Full-day kindergarten expanding without a mandate

Reading guarantee driving schools to offer more early education

Feb. 2, 2014

Kindergarden teacher Nicole Schnegg helps her students Molly Numamaker, Mackenzie Covey, Bradley Asher and Corbin Ross spell out words that begin with the letter B in a reading group at Garfield Elementary School in Heath. / Jessica Phelps/CentralOhio.com

Tera Allen holds the hand of her daughter, Alexxa Mowers, 5, as they arrive to school on her first day of kindergarten at Union Elementary in this August 2013 file photo. / Tribune file photo

Two years ago, Gov. John Kasich and the Ohio Legislature repealed a mandate that all Ohio schools offer full-day kindergarten — largely because the edict carried with it no real money for schools to expand their instruction.

But since that time, Ohio schools have moved more toward a full-day schedule for 5-year-olds, in part because of the third-grade reading mandate pushed by those same officials.

This year, 87 percent of the 813 traditional public and charter schools offered at full-day option for kindergarten. Additionally, 75 percent of the schools only offered classes all day every day, with rural Appalachian schools leading the way in exclusively offering full-day classes.

The number of schools going to full-day kindergarten is only likely to grow as they face competition from neighboring districts with open enrollment and charter schools, as well as pressure to get their elementary kids reading proficiently by the third grade.

In December, the Clyde-Green Springs School Board approved switching to full-day kindergarten for the 2014-15 school year. With the switch, all districts in Sandusky County will now offer full-day kindergarten.

“I feel like that was a big hole in our education program here,” Superintendent David Stubblebine said of only having half-day kindergarten.

Reading guarantee

Starting this year, third-graders in Ohio must meet certain scores on their reading proficiency tests or face the prospect of repeating the grade. This high-stakes state mandate has put a premium on early education in the state.

With thousands of kids not hitting the proficiency mark last year, Renuka Mayadev, executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, said many districts are grappling with how to help those children.

“The obvious question to ask is, ‘What are we doing before the third grade proficiency tests to ensure the child is ready to succeed?’” she said.

For Trevor Thomas, superintendent at Heath City Schools in Licking County, part of the answer was to offer full-day kindergarten. The district will switch to full-day, every-day classes next year after offering classes every other day in the past. Adding open enrollment brought in more students and more money to the district, he said, and his top priority for the influx was to expand kindergarten.

Mayadev said it made sense to ensure that all kindergarten students are getting a full-day education.

“The research on early childhood education is so clear: investment in the 0 to 8 age range pays off enormously in the future,” she said. “They don’t have the same development happening at 15 or 16. It’s too late.”

Competition factor

In an era of expanding school choice, the actions of other districts and charter schools can influence the decision of someone’s home district. With parents as the consumers of education for their children, offering a full-day kindergarten experience can be enticing, both for the additional instruction available and the reduction of child care requirements for households in which both parents work.

Mayadev said families looking at where to send their children might notice that a charter school or neighboring district is offering full-day kindergarten and question why their home district can’t do the same.

“The public pressure makes administrators look at the budget more closely,” she said.

Heath’s Thomas said he knows a contingent of parents would take their kids to neighboring Newark City Schools for its full-day kindergarten program and bring them back to Heath for first grade. He expects his kindergarten class size next year to be larger than the 110 kids this year.

For charter schools, which have to work to attract all of their students, full-day kindergarten is a key incentive. In fact, every charter school offering kindergarten this year offered full-day classes.

Jessica Voltolini, vice president of legislative affairs for the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said charters must consider the needs of the students where they are locating because parent satisfaction is critical.

“I’m sure it was part of their planning, ‘We can probably attract some additional students who want kids in an all-day program,’” she said.

Rural leaders

While students at many schools don’t have the opportunity to attend kindergarten all day, that is not the case in much of Appalachian Ohio. The southeast section of the state, often associated with rural and low-income districts, is the area where full-day kindergarten is most prevalent.

From Lawrence County at Ohio’s southern tip to Coshocton and Muskingum counties east of Columbus, students exclusively attend full-day kindergarten. In fact, it is not until you get closer to big city’s suburbs — be it Cincinnati, Cleveland or Columbus — that those options become less available. Many wealthier suburban districts, such as New Albany or Westerville, do not offer full-day options.

Dick Murray, executive director of the Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools, said offering full-day kindergarten can be necessary in some rural districts because the students there might not have been able to attend high-level preschools or had consistent learning opportunities at home.

“Superintendents in southeast Ohio see all-day kindergarten as a way to get their kids on an even keel with other places in the state,” he said.

Gov. Kasich said wealthier residents, like himself, don’t need the government’s help providing early education for their children.

“It’s the poor we have to provide this for,” he said.

Heath’s Thomas said he is surprised full-day kindergarten isn’t statewide yet in Ohio, although he added he was pleased the state removed the previous mandate because it came with no money. His expansion to full-day classes is expected to cost roughly $120,000 per year, but he said the cost for larger districts would be in the millions of dollars. He said the state needs to look at making this a priority.

“I hope it’s statewide,” he said of full-day kindergarten, “because it’s the only fair thing to have.”

Kasich, however, said it is up to each district to decide how to educate its students. While he said agreed that early education is critical, he did not endorse a one-solution mandate.